Analyze Quentin Johnston's matchup for week 9
Johnston has vanished from the Chargers’ plan—zero targets in Week 8 and a 4.5 PPR average over the last month—so even a mid-pack Titans pass defense can’t save him in a game script that will ride the run. Bench him everywhere.
Tennessee’s secondary is statistically beatable (17th vs pass, 12 different TDs allowed), but the Titans’ imploding offense means the Chargers can win on the ground and through McConkey/Gadsden without involving Johnston. Expect a low-volume, run-heavy script that keeps Johnston’s route participation as window-dressing.
Seventeen total PPR points across the last four games and a zero-target outing in Week 8—target share has cratered since rookie TE Oronde Gadsden II usurped his red-zone and intermediate work.
Quentin Johnston’s early-season flash now looks like the exception, not the breakthrough. Over the past four weeks he’s averaged 4.5 PPR points and his snap share has turned into decoy duty behind Ladd McConkey and Gadsden. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman no longer funnels even low-leverage looks his way—Week 8’s target goose-egg was scheme-driven, not injury-related—so Johnston’s fantasy utility has bottomed out. The coaching staff is content to let a resurgent ground game and the McConkey/Gadsden tandem control game flow, especially against a Titans offense that can’t stay on the field. Even if Tennessee’s pass defense remains mediocre, Los Angeles simply doesn’t need Johnston to win, and the target pecking order makes his ceiling close to his floor. Until a trade, injury, or play-calling overhaul reshapes the depth chart, he profiles as a roster-clogger rather than a stash.